--- title: Russian Oligarch To Give Back James Watson's Auctioned Nobel Medal description: The medal belonged to the U.S. scientist who co-discovered DNA canonical: https://time.com/3627466/watson-nobel-medal-russian-usmanov-auction/ author: Naina Bajekal article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-10T11:51:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T02:43:26.629Z article:section: Science og:title: Russian Oligarch To Give Back James Watson's Auctioned Nobel Medal og:description: The medal belonged to the U.S. scientist who co-discovered DNA og:url: https://time.com/3627466/watson-nobel-medal-russian-usmanov-auction/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3465821b02c59d57/69876deccd1bbae0d76f414c/james-watson-nobel-medal.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Auction of Nobel Prize medal of James Watson og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Russian Oligarch To Give Back James Watson's Auctioned Nobel Medal twitter:description: The medal belonged to the U.S. scientist who co-discovered DNA twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3465821b02c59d57/69876deccd1bbae0d76f414c/james-watson-nobel-medal.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Billionaire Just Paid $4 million for a Nobel Medal Only to Give It Back to the Seller  by [Naina Bajekal](https://time.com/author/naina-bajekal/)  ## Naina Bajekal Bajekal was executive editor and international editor at TIME. Dec 10, 2014 11:51 AM UTC  The front side of the Nobel Prize medal awarded to US scientist James Watson in 1962. The front side of the Nobel Prize medal awarded to US scientist James Watson in 1962.EPA  by [Naina Bajekal](https://time.com/author/naina-bajekal/)  ## Naina Bajekal Bajekal was executive editor and international editor at TIME. Dec 10, 2014 11:51 AM UTC One of the richest men in Russia, Alisher Usmanov, has come forward as the anonymous buyer of James Watson’s Nobel medal, which was sold for more than [$4 million at an auction at Christie’s in New York last week](http://time.com/3619174/james-watson-nobel-prize-medal-auction/). Usmanov, [who is worth an estimated $15.9 billion](http://www.forbes.com/profile/alisher-usmanov/), has now revealed he will return the piece to Watson who shared the 1962 Nobel prize in medicine for discovering the structure of DNA, alongside Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins. This was the first time a living recipient of the Nobel Prize has sold their medal. Watson told the [_Financial Times_](http://www.ft.com/cms/s/5fb47ebe-75bc-11e4-a1a9-00144feabdc0,Authorised=false.html?%5Fi%5Flocation=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F5fb47ebe-75bc-11e4-a1a9-00144feabdc0.html%3Fsiteedition%3Duk&siteedition=uk&%5Fi%5Freferer=#axzz3KO1BEfxi) in November that he had been spurned by the scientific community and made to feel like an “unperson” since he gave an interview in 2007 in which he [suggested that black people were inherently less intelligent than white people](http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/oct/21/race.research). Watson has [said](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/11261872/James-Watson-selling-Nobel-prize-because-no-one-wants-to-admit-I-exist.html) he needs the money but would also give some of the proceeds to different research institutions and charities and that he hopes to re-enter public life as a result. “A situation in which an outstanding scientist sells a medal recognizing his achievements is unacceptable,” Usmanov said in a [statement](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-09/richest-russian-buys-watson-s-nobel-medal-plans-to-return-it.html). “It is important for me that the money that I spent on this medal will go to supporting scientific research,” Usmanov added, “and the medal will stay with the person who deserved it.” **Read more:** [The mortification of James Watson](http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1673952,00.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3627466/watson-nobel-medal-russian-usmanov-auction/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3627466/watson-nobel-medal-russian-usmanov-auction/"},"headline":"This Billionaire Just Paid $4 million for a Nobel Medal Only to Give It Back to the Seller","datePublished":"2014-12-10T11:51:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:43:26.629Z","description":"The medal belonged to U.S. scientist James Watson who co-discovered DNA","url":"https://time.com/3627466/watson-nobel-medal-russian-usmanov-auction/","keywords":["russia"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3465821b02c59d57/69876deccd1bbae0d76f414c/james-watson-nobel-medal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Naina Bajekal","jobTitle":"Bajekal was executive editor and international editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/naina-bajekal/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3465821b02c59d57/69876deccd1bbae0d76f414c/james-watson-nobel-medal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Auction of Nobel Prize medal of James Watson","caption":"The front side of the Nobel Prize medal awarded to US scientist James Watson in 1962.","creditText":"EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/russia/","name":"russia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3627466/watson-nobel-medal-russian-usmanov-auction/","name":"This Billionaire Just Paid $4 million for a Nobel Medal Only to Give It Back to the Seller"}}]}] ```